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Imagine a school: Children draw and explain the ideal environmental school

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2021

Adiv Gal  and
Dafna Gan
Adiv Gal*
Affiliation:
The Center of Education for Environmental Sustainability, Kibbutzim College of Education Technology and the Arts, Tel Aviv, Israel
Dafna Gan
Affiliation:
The Center of Education for Environmental Sustainability, Kibbutzim College of Education Technology and the Arts, Tel Aviv, Israel
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Using drawings and accompanying written and oral explanations by third- and sixth-grade students, this phenomenological study is an examination of the children’s perception of the ideal environmental school. Analysis of the 128 features in the drawing yielded four categories: (1) physical – with natural areas and outdoor learning, (2) cognitive – core subjects and environmental ones, (3) emotional – the students’ feelings and the spaces for releasing stress and energy and (4) educational – environmental education (EE) includes a variety of pedagogies, features of nature and environmental solutions. While the drawings and explanations presented the school as the children know it, without boundary-breaking imagination and creativity, they also showed a desire for a positive school atmosphere, defined as essential to holistic EE and to leading environmental change. The positive atmosphere, nature and the environmental spaces can be the foundation of developing EE that is not fear based, which often generates helplessness and prevents action. The recommendations emphasise the need to enhance positive thinking and not to focus only on fear tactics as a means to enhance holistic EE and protect the environment.

Keywords

holistic environmental educationpositive thinkingchildren’s imaginationchildren’s drawingseducation for sustainabilitystudents’ voice
Type
Research/Practice Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , November 2021 , pp. 208 - 223
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Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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